All the Single Ladies Are Staying Single as Fewer Adults Are Getting Married
It’s always been said that men are afraid of commitment, and now there’s research to back it up. Sorry ladies, this applies to you as well. A new study from the Pew Research Center finds that fewer and fewer adults are actually getting married these days.
In fact, the number of married couples dropped five percent between 2009 and 2010 alone, and has declined by more than 20 percent since 1960. What’s more, 40 percent of survey respondents now say marriage is “obsolete.”
The report also reveals that those of us who do get married are doing it later in life. Compared to the Baby Boomers, most of whom wed in their early 20s, about half of grooms now are at least 29 years old when they tie the knot. The average age of women marrying for the first time has also risen — half are 27 or older.
Pew researcher and senior writer D’Vera Cohn said the decline in marriage rates overall could have something to do with social mores. Things that were once rare or taboo, like living with someone without being married, living on your own, or even living as a single parent, are now widely acceptable.
“We don’t know why [people are getting married less often now], we can’t really say for sure that it’s the recession or bad economic times, but it’s certainly one more sign that marriage is less important than it used to be in the lives of Americans,” she said.